Patrick Hamilton:

An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center

Creator:

Hamilton, Patrick, 1904 Mar.
17-1962

Title:

Patrick Hamilton
Collection

Inclusive Dates:

1915-1984

Bulk Dates:

(bulk
1925-1969)

Extent:

5 boxes, 1 oversize box
(2.1 linear feet)

Abstract:

The life of Patrick
Hamilton, a british author best known for his work
Rope, is documented in this collection
of published and unpublished handwritten manuscripts, including early
typescript drafts of a biography about Patrick Hamilton by his brother Bruce,
extensive correspondence, legal documents, and photographs.

The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center

Anthony Walter Patrick Hamilton was
born on St. Patrick's Day in 1904 at Hassocks, Sussex, England. Patrick was the
last of three children-Helen (known as Lalla to the family and Diana to her
friends in the theater), Bruce, and Patrick-born to Bernard and Ellen
Adèle Hockley Hamilton. Although Bernard, Patrick's father, had
inherited a considerable sum of money at age twenty-one, by the time Patrick
was born very little of the inheritance remained, forcing Patrick to spend the
latter years of his youth in a variety of middle-class boarding houses and
rented rooms. His experiences and memories from these rented quarters helped to
shape the characters, described in the September 1951
Times Literary Supplement as
"the faithless, the uprooted, the lonely
souls," in his early fictional work.

Patrick Hamilton's earliest
published piece, a poem titled
"Heaven," appeared in the respected
journal
Poetry Review in 1919. His first novel
Monday Morning was published by
Constable six years later in 1925. Michael Sadleir, a book collector and noted
Victorianist, had accepted the novel for Constable and it was during the
publishing of
Monday Morning that the two men began a
career-long friendship. Hamilton's most famous work
Rope, originally presented on stage in
1929, enjoyed success as a theater and radio production and eventually as an
Alfred Hitchcock film.
Rope's success brought critical acclaim
and monetary compensation to Hamilton for the rest of his life.

The 1930s were a tumultuous time for Patrick and the Hamilton family.
In August 1930 Patrick secretly married Lois Martin just days after his
father's death. Lois seemed to have a good effect on Patrick. She took over his
finances, suggested a move to the countryside, and limited (and eventually
temporarily banned) his consumption of alcohol during his composition of
The Siege of Pleasure in 1931. Despite his
newfound responsibility, tragedy struck in 1932. While walking with his sister
and wife in London, Hamilton was struck by a drunk driver and dragged through
the street. His injuries were devastating. After a three-month hospital stay,
multiple surgeries, and a period of convalescence, Hamilton suffered physical
and emotional scars that would continue with him for the rest of his life. His
accident appeared in his work after he added a drunken driving accident into
the
Siege of Pleasure before its late 1932
publication. Two years later in 1934 Hamilton's mother committed suicide in
response to a devastating illness. During this difficult period, Hamilton
focused his creative energies to write
The Plains of Cement(1934), the third
novel in a trilogy about a pub called the Midnight Bell and the characters that
frequented it. In 1935, Constable published the trilogy under the title
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky: A London
Trilogy. Noted author J. B. Priestley wrote a preface for the book
signaling Hamilton's growing literary fame.

In 1933, Hamilton began to study Marxism, possibly stemming from his
brother Bruce's letters during a trip to the Soviet Union, or his reading of
Karl Marx and Lenin. Hamilton's interest in Marxism and his compassion for the
"semi-proletariat," his term for people living
life on the margins, explain his humanistic tendency to tell stories of the
poor and underrepresented.

After 1937, Hamilton enjoyed a productive few years publishing a range
of successful and critically acclaimed novels and plays including
Impromptu in Moribundia (1939),
Money with Menaces (1939),
To the Public Danger (1939),
Hangover Square (1941),
The Duke in Darkness (1943), and
The Slaves of Solitude (1947).
Additionally, in 1947 Hamilton advised Alfred Hitchcock on the production of
the film version of
Rope; however, the relationship soured due
to Hamilton's perceived lack of influence over the film and was eventually so
displeased with the final result that he went on an alcoholic binge resulting
in a brief stay at a nursing home to recover.

Although Hamilton was
succeeding professionally, personally his life was becoming more chaotic.
Sometime during 1948-1949 Hamilton began an extra-martial affair with Ursula
Stewart, born Lady Ursula Chetwynd-Talbot, an author who published under the
name Laura Talbot. For years Hamilton would live with
"La," as her friends called her, during the
week and return to his wife Lois on the weekend. Even after Hamilton's divorce
from Lois in 1953 and his marriage to La in 1954, this triangular love affair
continued until Hamilton's death. Despite his tumultuous private life, Hamilton
was able to write three novels about the sociopath and criminal Ralph Ernest
Gorse,
The West Pier (1951),
Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse (1953), and
Unknown Assailant (1954). The Gorse novels
were moderately successful and were made into a television mini-series in the
1990s. His final play
The Man Upstairs (1953) was not critically
acclaimed and although it was published as a book in 1954, the play never made
it to the West End in London.

The final years of Hamilton's life were
unproductive and difficult. In times of sobriety, Hamilton worked on two novels
"The Happy Hunting Grounds" and
"Memoirs of a Heavy Drinking Man," but
neither were completed or published. Hamilton's alcoholism and dysfunctional
private life eventually lead to a bout of depression. On the advice of La's
former husband, Hamilton underwent electroshock therapy, but to no avail. Still
plagued by alcoholism, Hamilton died September 23, 1962.

Published and unpublished handwritten
manuscripts and early typescript drafts of a biography make up the bulk of the
Patrick Hamilton Collection, 1915-1984 (bulk 1925-1969), and are supplemented
by extensive correspondence authored by Patrick Hamilton as well as legal
documents and photographs. The collection is arranged into three series: Series
I. Correspondence, 1915-1972, Series II. Works, 1925-1969, and Series III.
Other Papers, 1962-1984.

The Correspondence series is divided into three subseries: A.
Outgoing, B. Incoming, and C. Other Correspondents. All subseries are arranged
chronologically except for Incoming correspondence which is arranged
alphabetically by author. The bulk of the correspondence is contained in the
Outgoing subseries which primarily consists of letters from Patrick to his
brother Bruce Hamilton. Letters in the Outgoing subseries are both handwritten
and typed and are of a personal nature documenting Patrick's daily activities,
insights regarding current events, and discussion of works in progress. Also
present are undated notes Patrick left for his wife and mother. The Incoming
subseries is minimal, only two folders, and includes letters from friends such
as Sir Osbert Sitwell and Charles Mackehenie and letters from business
acquaintances. Of special note is a letter from Orson Welles requesting
permission to convert one of Patrick's manuscripts into a screenplay. Subseries
C. Other Correspondents houses one folder of third-party letters neither
addressed to nor authored by Patrick Hamilton.

The Works Series is
divided into two subseries: A. Patrick Hamilton and B. Bruce Hamilton. The
Patrick Hamilton subseries contains both published and unpublished works, most
of which are handwritten manuscripts, and are arranged are alphabetically.
Patrick's published works include
Caller Anonymous, complete with
corrections; an early draft of The Duke in Darkness; a typescript final draft of "The Quiet Room," published posthumously; and an early handwritten fragment of
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky: A London
Trilogy, with corrections. In addition, there are a few unpublished
works including
"The Licensed Trade," the beginning of
"The Happy Hunting Grounds,"
"Memoirs of a Heavy-Drinking Man," a
review of Jonah Barrington's
Master of None, autobiographical notes, a
projected book on words, and unidentified fragments. Except for the
unidentified fragments, which contain handwritten and typescript pages, the
unpublished works are all unfinished and handwritten in bound
notebooks.

The Bruce Hamilton subseries primarily documents the author's
process of writing
The Light Went Out, a biography of his
brother Patrick published in 1972, found here under its work-in-progress title,
Patrick -- A Tragedy. The manuscript segments, all typescripts with
corrections, have been kept in their original order. Also present is an
unfinished manuscript of
"Bernard -- A Tragi-Comedy" about the
Hamilton brothers' father.

The Other Papers series contains a few legal
documents, limited to copies of birth and marriage certificates of Patrick
Hamilton. This series also contains photographs of Patrick and his family and
friends, some of which were published in Bruce Hamilton's biography of his
brother Patrick
The Light Went Out, along with photographs
of a few of Patrick's homes, including the house in which he died. There are
also several photographs related to the production of his plays documenting
principal actors and set designs. The Ephemera folder contains seven clippings,
a published collection of reviews of Patrick Hamilton's publications, a note
regarding Bruce Hamilton's death, a protest announcement, and a
postcard.

Additional material about Patrick Hamilton can be found at the
Ransom Center in the Arthur Douglas Bruce Hamilton Papers, which contain
material related to Patrick Hamilton, including articles by and about Patrick
Hamilton as well as obituaries and his will.